


Meet Dr. Stockman

by gemini_in_tauro



Category: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (TV 2003)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, F/M, Friendship, M/M, Slow Burn, other tags might be added later
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-05-21
Updated: 2019-08-02
Packaged: 2020-03-08 15:07:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 2,522
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18897100
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/gemini_in_tauro/pseuds/gemini_in_tauro
Summary: A lone boy finds a friend in what he never thought possible. A freshly-mutated turtle gets separated from his brothers, and winds up in a whole different place.Somehow, April O'Neil finds herself intertwined in this whole situation."I thought two years of working side by side with a mutant turtle would help with the shock..." she smiled, a borderly demential glint in her eyes. "Well, so much for that."





	1. Meet the Turtles

**Author's Note:**

> I always see people comparing Donnie's and Baxter's genius, so I wanted to figure how would putting them both in the same team work.
> 
> Although there are three pairings listed, this won't be so much about romance (because God, I suck at romance) as it will about Donnie and Stockman bonding as well as how the turtles growing without the genius would turn out like.
> 
> Pretty much like the original publication of the Mirage comics, this won't have a chronological order whatsoever. You've been warned.
> 
> As a final note, I'm not that good at chemistry—that is, I understand how it works, but I cannot bring myself to explain it in a fic as other Donnie-centered fics have, so there's that. I will try to come up with logical sollutions that can be explained scientifically, however.

“She seems fine to me.”

April blinked. There was pounding in her head, she was pretty sure something really hard must have hit her, because she was feeling a concussion forming in the back of her head.

“What happened?”

One of the shadows moved closer to her, and she feared she was losing consciousness because the world around her was spinning… and… three, four, maybe five figures were getting closer to her? Yes… five sounded about right…

“Someone tried to attack you, lady…”

But she couldn't hear anymore, her conscience was slowly drifting away.

She awoke in a cozy and slightly old couch, her head pounding at the rythm her heartbeat insisted on. The dim light wasn't intrusive, but it did made her headache more pronounced, so she closed her eyes once again.

April groaned, trying to sit down with one hand and soothing her head with the other.

“If I were you, I wouldn't attempt to sit just now, young lady.” A voice with a slight Asian accent suggested her. She was very tempted to open her eyes and see who was it, but she didn't want to worsen her headache.

She breathed in air through her mouth. “What… happened?”

The same Asian-like, sooting voice, answered her. “Someone tried to attack you. My sounds stopped them and when they found out you were unconscious they brought you to the house of a friend of theirs, so you could rest and I could heal you.”

“Well, whatever you did certainly hasn't helped the headache,” she wasn't a snappy person. Heck, only once in her whole life did she snap at someone. This time she was lacking answers (the memories of yesterday night were coming back, slowly, very slowly, but she was still missing clues) and the numbing sensation of just awaking was quickly fading as her eyes continued closed, so she knew she kind of had a right to answer like that.

“I'm sorry about that, miss. I couldn't give you anything to lessen the pain while you were still unconscious, my eldest feared it might affect you.”

“It's ok, I got this,” she took a sharp intake of breath and tried to will her body to somehow stop the pounding in her head.

“Hey! She's awake!” Cried a third voice from a few feet away.

“Calm yourself, Michaelangelo, she is still in pain,” reprimanded the father. She tried to say it was ok—after all she had had to deal with loud people her whole life—but right now she was concentrating on finally opening her eyes.

“How are you feeling, lady?” This voice sounded pretty much like the one she heard in the alley before everything went black. It was calm, like a pond in autumn—glassy, soothing. “Here, I heard this would help with the pain.”

She opened one of her eyes, a green hand under her nose offering what she gathered were painkillers. She took them and without thinking too much about it she swallowed them dry. “Thanks,” she said, feeling awkward.

Already feeling her head clearer, she finally opened her eyes, paying attention to her clothes in the hopes nothing had damaged them (gosh, she loved this tank top). Once she was sure of it she finally paid attention to her surroundings.

In front of her were three eager mutant turtles, and a giant rat with robes… and a walking stick.

She blinked a few times. Then she laughed. Hard. So hard she was beginning to feel the pounding in her head once more. One would think this was routine to her. “I thought two years of working side by side with a mutant turtle would help with the shock…” she smiled, a borderly demential glint in her eyes. “Well, so much for that.”

And she fainted. The family of four stared at her sleeping form. “I told you, Raph, your ugliness scared her.”

“My ugliness?! Have ya seen ya'self in the mirror lately?!”

Leo shook his head in amusement, turning to his father who was thoughtfully scratching his beard. “Father? What do you think she meant by that?”

Splinter blinked, as though trying to revisit her words. “I think she meant just that, Leonardo. She has been working with someone like us.” He looked directly into Leo's eyes, his gaze carrying a message he couldn't precisely understand.

“There's more of us,” he whispered, almost like it was a secret that was supposed to be kept like it. He smiled, not feeling like such a freak after all.

“There's one more of us, my son” corrected Splinter, sadness seeping through his statement. Leo had been feeling hopeful, but the tone in his father's voice left him… cold.


	2. Trapped

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Donnie calls April late at night.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter doesn't happen immediately after chapter one. The summary won't make sense until some ten or so chapters, so bear with me.
> 
> Also the chapters won't be long (at much 2 or 3k, and 500w at less), and some of the scenes will look uncomplete (like chapter one) because they will be another chapter's content. So. I know what I do, don't worry.

“Huh? Where the shell are we?” The turtle with the red bandana was the first to wake up, and his immediate answer was something between fury and panic. “I swear to god, Mikey, if this is one of ya jokes it ain’t funny at all.”

“I'd be laughing if it were,” came the voice of the orange one (Mikey, as the red turtle called him), kinda strangled and with the same panic his brother showed. Donatello snickered.

“Guys, stop fighting. That won't lead anywhere.” The blue bandana wearer was the last one to speak, almost undisturbed by this whole situation, as though he had never been asleep and was, instead, gathering his wit.

“How do ya want me ta calm down, Fearless? Need I remind ya we’re pretty darn tied up, as well as trapped in a dark place?”

Donatello took that comment as his cue to enter in scene. “If you're really concerned about illumination, I can help you.”

If the three brothers had had a saying in the matter, they would have preferred the room to stay in darkness. For their unused eyes, such a blinding light was as good as torture. It took them three minutes to finally adapt to this new illumination.

“Hmm, I see. So your eyes are more adept to the shadows, huh? Interesting.” Because they had been so intent on trying to adapt to this new place, they had yet to acknowledge his presence. But—however he'd done it—as the lights turned on he was gone from the room the three brothers were in.

“Who’re ya? Show ya’self!” The one with the red bandana tried to force himself free. Donatello only shook his head, amused.

“Didn't know you were so eager to meet me,” he said, amusement clear in his voice. “You may call me Dr. Stockman if you will.”

“Stockman?” The blue one asked, like he was trying to decipher something out of that name. “What is it you want to do with us?”

“You'll see later,” Donatello presses a button that freed a knockout gas over the three defenseless turtles. Once he was sure the three of them were unconscious, he opened his phone and clicked a number. Three seconds later, April's sleepy voice could be heard from the other side of the call.

“Huh? Donnie? It's two in the morning, this better be good.”

“I was doing the first test runs on the Mousers. They didn't catch any rat, or any normal rat—unless you count those three that I used in the laboratory for experimentation,” noticing he was trailing off, he cleared his throat. “But they found something that might interest you.”

His eagerness was only met with silence on the other side of the phone, and for a second he thought April might've fallen asleep again. He prepared himself to speak louder this time.

“April? You still there?”

“Yes, yes. I'll be there in ten, wait for me.”

As she hung up, Don pondered on how nervous and anxious her answer sounded. He didn't tell her what he had caught—maybe she had a rat pet she kept in the sewers and forgot to tell him? Maybe she had a secret subway full of chemical formulas like Peter Parker's dad and she didn't want him to find out?

Or maybe it was related to the other three turtles he found? Maybe she  _ knew  _ them beforehand because she was looking for trouble in the sewers and she was a friend of theirs.

_ Now Donnie, you're just making things up. April would've told you if she has found another mutant turtle like you, she said so—albeit jokingly—herself. _

So why wasn't he feeling reassured?

He spent the best part of ten minutes trying to decipher that little dilemma, of what exactly she was trying to hide from him, or what exactly had her so unnerved today (she had a very serious conversation with Bax before, it probably had been that and because she related Don to Bax was unconsciously irritated? He was no master of the machinations of women's brains, but he understood certain reactions and—)

“For a minute I thought you had changed your password,” said April, putting on a lab coat, and freezing instantly as her eyes fell on the unconscious turtles. “…what is the meaning of this?”

“April, you’re here,” he smiled a little, then he signaled to the bound and unconscious turtles. “Bax asked me to do tests with the Mousers before he went to sleep, and I did. They followed a big signal, but instead of a rat’s nest they found this.”

April was somewhat wary, something she hadn’t done ever since that first day and it made Donnie feel just a little ashamed of capturing these turtles.

“So far they have shown supernatural strength, speed, and a somewhat average intelligence.”

April sighed heavily, as though pondering her next question. “What do you plan to do with them?”

Donnie stopped for a minute to register what he thought he’d say. The natural answer would be  _ examine them _ but he also knew her thoughts about that matter. The less gore and violence, the better.

“I’m not sure yet.” He answered, as sensible as possible. “At first I thought I could show you how they were, and then tell Baxter about them.”

This actually seemed to relax April. Her gaze lingered again on the unconscious turtles. “Did you ever wonder if there were others like you? Did you… haven’t you felt lonely, only having me and Bax to talk to?”

“I have talked with other scientists” the argument sounded weak even to him, but it wasn’t a lie. Although he had felt some kind of curiosity for the world (on the origin of his mutation), he hid it in the deepest part of him. He was happy here, he had access to thing he otherwise wouldn't, Bax treated him like a brother, what else did he need?

“But I’m talking about face-to-face talking, Donnie. I…” she sighed, “for almost three years I’ve wonderd… just treat them like you would like to be treated.”

Before she could add anything else, the other turtles started to regain consciousness.


	3. Meet Dr. Stockman

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> April O’Neil wasn’t someone particularly interested in conversation with co-workers after working hours, specially since she had to take care of her father’s antique shop.
> 
> Then again, she had never worked with Dr. Stockman before.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was originally intended as the first chapter, but I figured it would be better this way.

April O’Neil wasn’t someone particularly interested in conversation with co-workers after working hours, specially since she had to take care of her father’s antique shop.

Then again, she had never worked with Dr. Stockman before.

At first glance, he looked like every snobby American scientist she met while studying for her career—full of himself, egocentric, and with a particular feeling surrounding him that couldn’t be described with anything but _I know everything you don’t_ (and synonyms).

But when she actually worked with him, started working on some projects she had only dreamed in her teenage years and received praise for her intelligence, she thought of Baxter for what he actually was—a genius.

So when he proposed they both worked in a project that might innovate the city and help its inhabitants in ways that nobody had been able to before, she was awed.

We will also be joined by my best scientific, I hope you don’t mind him,” said he, casually, washing his hands as he exited laboratory number three, paying particular attention to how she was responding to his nonchalant way of saying those things. “He’s rather especial—actually, I believe he is far more intelligent than both our minds merged together… an _inhumanely_ genius, if you will.”

“Sounds to me rather extraordinary,” her voice light and a half-smile in her lips. Carefully she slipped the latex gloves off her hands and proceeded to wash them, mimicking his movements. “But” she paused to look him straight in the eye, nodding her head and show she trusted him. “my experience here so far has proven you’re never wrong, and you never exaggerate, so this person is what you say they are.”

“I’m glad you think like that!” Exclaimed Stockman drying his hands. After that was set, his demeanour changed into a serious one again. “Before I let you see him, however… I would like to take… measures, so you don’t reveal his existence. A silence vow of sorts.”

She chuckled. “Afraid someone might take such brilliant mind away from you, I gather?”

“More like… afraid of incarceration for working with a minor, Miss O’Neil.” She rolled her eyes at how serious he sounded. Although he was right—letting a minor touch such dangerous chemicals, in a laboratory as complete as Dr. Stockman’s _ten_ laboratories were would be seen a child labor abuse (or it would be until this kid became seventeen).

She nodded anyway, and followed Stockman to his office, where he quickly typed a contract in which she vowed not to tell a single human about his existence, nor his working at Stockman’s Corp, etcetera.

“Darwin Stockman? Is he… your little brother?” it would explain how he was pretty convinced this kid was a genius, as it would how he came to find him, but when she investigated him she never heard of a little brother…

“Something like that, you’ll see. Follow me, Miss O’Neil” he went to the portrait of who could only be his mother, uncovering a secret door and inserting a twenty-five-digit code entering and helping April as well to enter. He closed the door behind her and cleared his throat, letting his brother know he had arrived. “Darwin, I brought Miss O’Neil to work on the project.”

Steps could be heard coming from another room and alongside stepped in a fully clothed… mutant… turtle… dressed in trousers, a polo shirt, googles and a lab coat. “I’ve told you before, Bax. As fitting as the name is, I never liked it. My name is—”

“Donatello, Donatello. Yes, I’ve heard you before. Don’t have to work yourself up so much about it.”

April was pretty sure she was in shock. Yes, this was—maybe Dr. Stockman was pulling a joke on her… yes. Yes, this was a very elaborate joke and she was… she was buying it.

“A pleasure to finally meet you, Miss O’Neil. My name is Donatello and I will be working with both you and Bax in the mouse trappers.”

Barely a second passed before she passed out. Donatello could only look at her sleeping figure before turning to the chuckling Baxter.

“How suave, Donatello. Keep playing it like that, and maybe next time you might kill her.”

“Shut it, Bax.”

**Author's Note:**

> I don't know how accents actually work, so it won't be that pronounced as I write Raph and Casey.
> 
> Hope you enjoyed. ;)


End file.
